Darker Than The Ocean's Depths
by TheDogSage
Summary: During the sealing of the Kyuubi, Naruto's eyes are overloaded with chakra, frying them and rendering the newborn child blind. How will Kushina deal with this, and can Naruto still become as great as his father in spite of his blindness?
1. Darkness is my Friend

No, I do not own Naruto.

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Sitting at the desk of the Hokage, Sarutobi sighed, rubbing his weary eyes as the people outside slowly came to a terrible realization. The realization that while he had defeated the Kyuubi no Kitsune and saved them all, Namikaze Minato had to die to protect them all. Noone knew how he had managed to do so, since the man had forced all shinobi back to the village while he and Gamabunta took on the great beast.

Not even the Council knew the truth, and Sarutobi was going to make sure it stayed that way. If he valued his continued existance, doing so was a necessity.

The elderly man shuddered as he remembered the conversation he had with Minato's wife, Kushina, just hours earlier.

(Flashback no Jutsu)

_"Hello Minato-kun, Kushina-chan." Sarutobi said to the blonde-haired, blue-eyed man standing next to the delivery table holding a red-haired woman. Turning to the third occupant of the room, he felt a small swell of happiness in his chest._

_"I'm glad to see you made it, Tsunade-chan." the elderly Hokage said, to the blonde woman sighed as she rubbed Kushina's shoulder and said "Well, when Minato-oi requested me to help with the birth of his first child, I just couldn't say no..." Turning a hard gaze on her sensei, she continued "But make no mistake, I'm leaving as soon as I'm certain both mother and child are perfectly healthy."_

_"Well, I'm just happy your here, if only for a few days." Sarutobi said with a soft smile, before turning to Minato, his face hardening as he said "Minato-kun, as you already know, the Kyuubi is coming towards Konoha..."_

_"And I have already formulated a plan to defeat it." Minato finished, and then sighed sadly as he continued "Unfortunately, doing so will cost me my life, and I'll have to use a newborn child."_

_"Minato..." Kushina began, but the man turned to her and cut her off by saying "Kushina, how can I go to another parent and ask them for their child when I have a newborn son of my own?"_

_"Bu-but you can't! It's not fair!" Kushina cried, tears streaming down her face as Minato nodded and said "That's why I asked Tsunade-bo to come oversee the birth of our son. So that they will have at least one parent to care and love him. I'm sorry, but there's no other way."_

_"Yes there is! There's always another way!" Kushina yelled, but Minato sighed and replied "Don't you think I didn't already try to find another option? Jiraiya-sensei and me went over every book, every scroll, every scrap of paper that might possibly be considered useful looking for another way! It's either this or Konoha is destroyed, and I can't allow it to perish while I can still protect it!"_

_Kushina broke into a fit of sobbing, Tsunade gently rubbing her shoulder as Minato smiled and said "Sarutobi-sama, I need you to make sure people understand the sacrifice I and my son are making for Konoha. I want him to be seen as the hero he is."_

_"I don't." Kushina hiccuped, and both men turned to her and Minato asked "What?"_

_"I want the fact our child is going to be a jinchuuriki to remain a secret." Kushina stated, and Minato said "But the people of Konoha..."_

_"You may have blind faith in the people of Konoha, Minato-kun, but I have seen firsthand the horrors that people of this village are capable of. They are no different than any other village, and in every other village jinchuuriki are feared and hated by the people that created them. I refuse to have my child, the only piece of you I'll have left suffer from the same fate." Kushina said, narrowing her eyes at her husband._

_"Kushina..." Minato began, but this time Kushina cut him off as she said "No, my mind is made up. Jinchuuriki or not, I want my son to have a happy, NORMAL childhood. I refuse to allow anything that might be even remotely harmful to that!" Turning her eyes on Sarutobi, the former Hokage felt the first chill run down his spine in years from the look he recieved from the expecting mother as she said "And if you go against my wishes and tell them anyway Sarutobi... I. Will. __**Kill**__. You."_

_Sarutobi had no doubt in his mind the woman before him could do so. He'd seen a civilian woman kill a tiger that had escaped from the Forest of Death with a kitchen knife to protect her children. And if an untrained woman could do that, then he shuddered at what Kushina could do with the same incentive. Because before becoming pregnant, she was one of only a few people capable of matching Minato in a fight, and now that she had a child to protect..._

_"Very well, Kushina. The secret will remain only with you, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and myself." Sarutobi conceded, and Kushina smiled, relaxing against the bed, eyes closed as she said "Thank you, Sarutobi-sama. I appreciate that."_

_"Be careful with her, Tsunade-bo." Minato said, rubbing the back of his wife's hand with a calloused thumb, and Tsunade smiled as she said "Of course, Minato-oi."_

(Flashback no Jutsu: KAI!)

Sarutobi looked up as a large form appeared in the middle of the room, a small bundle swaddled in a blue blanket decorated with cartoon toads in his arms. He smiled at the sight of Jiraiya, who returned a weary smile of his own, tear tracks staining his tattooed cheeks.

"Did you get him?" Sarutobi asked, and Jiraiya nodded as he said "Yeah. I hid inside of Gamabunta's mouth until the battle was over, and then he let me out before returning to Myoubokuzan. I gathered the child from Mi-Minato and left the scene as fast as I possibly could."

"Were you seen?" Sarutobi questioned, and Jiraiya said "No. I was gone before even the first ANBU operative showed up. And with all the confusion and mayhem, it was child's play for a master spy to get here unseen by anyone." Turning dark eyes to the blonde newborn in his arms, Jiraiya smiled sadly, rubbing Naruto's chubby little belly with his finger.

"H-he looks so much like Mi-Minato-kun..." Jiraiya murmured, watching the small arms wiggle as a wide smile crossed the whisker-scarred face, revealing toothless gums. Chubby little legs kicked in the blankets, and Jiraiya laughed sadly as he cooed "Whose an adorable little ball of sunshine? Whose an adorable little ball of sunshine? Yes you are! Yes you are!"

Sarutobi gave a smile as he said "I know it must have been hard for you, but understand that it was Minato's choice to sacrifice himself for the sake of his village."

Jiraiya nodded, not taking his eyes off the baby in his arms, whose eyes finally opened. Looking into them, Jiraiya gasped as he studied them carefully, causing Sarutobi to ask "Wh-what's wrong, Jiraiya?"

"Sen-sensei... his eyes..." Jiraiya muttered, and Sarutobi felt fear creep into his chest as he asked "What about them?"

"They're cloudy. I-I think i-it's cataracts." Jiraiya replied, and the Sandaime moved beside Jiraiya and stared into the baby's eyes. He felt his heart drop into his stomach as he looked into the pale blue eyes of the only son of Minato.

"How? When? Why?" Sarutobi asked, but the white-haired Sannin said "I-I need to get him to Tsunade. Ma-maybe she can fix it." Sarutobi nodded as his student exited the room, heading for the hospital where Tsunade was sure to be.

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Sighing, Tsunade removed her bloodied surgical gloves as she looked over the room filled with wounded shinobi, their wounds varying in severity. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she exited the room and walked down the hallway to another, private room. Taking a seat next to the bed, she looked to the sleeping form of her late nephew's widow. Kushina had required immediate care after Naruto's birth, but the female Sannin had succeeded and the woman would live, along with many others who might not have made it without her aid.

Yawning, she said "Your timing's still for shit, Kushina. You picked the worst time to be having this baby, and force me to come home to make sure you didn't die." Smiling wearily, she patted a slender hand as she said "But I don't regret coming for a moment to help you and Minato-oi. Nor, unfortunately, do I regret helping all the men and women now lying in this hospital alongside you."

She gave the woman as best a glare as possible as she said "Just know this, you pull this kind of stunt again, Kushina, and you're on your own. Got me?"

Leaning back in her chair, her eyes slid closed as she murmured "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get a few very well-deserved winks. And if you wake me up by flatlining or something, and I'll make sure you make a full recovery so I can kill you myself."

But as she was just beginning to doze off, Sarutobi and Jiraiya appeared in the room, eyes on her. Turning a glare on the pair, it disappeared as she saw the small bundle of moving blankets in Jiraiya's arms, the bundle whimpering and mewling.

"Is that Naruto-kun?" Tsunade asked, and Jiraiya nodded as he said "Yeah... But I need you to check him over."

"Why? What's wrong?" the medic asked, her brow furrowing in concern, which grew as Jiraiya replied "It's his eyes... I think its cataracts." Tsunade was out of her chair and over to Jiraiya and Sarutobi with a speed that belied her exhausted state, taking the small blonde newborn into her arms. Holding him in the crook of an arm, she carefully lifted each eyelid in turn, her concerned look turning to sorrow as she passed a glowing hand over them to do a closer inspection. She proceeded to pass the hand over the rest of the small blonde's body, who kicked out with his tiny legs.

"Tsunade, is it?" Jiraiya asked, and the blonde woman nodded, tears filling her own eyes as she said "Ye-yeah... It seems that during the sealing, th-the nerves and lense in his eyes were overloaded with youki, completely destroying them. He-he's completely blind."

She felt her heart tear in two at the look of crushing sadness upon her longtime friend's face at her diagnosis, and deciding to try and cheer him up, she said "But the good news is that otherwise, he's a completely healthy baby boy."

Jiraiya smiled sadly as he said "We-well, at least he's got his health, if n-not his sight." Tsunade nodded, taking the toad blanket from Jiraiya and wrapping the child in it before walking over to the hospital bed holding Kushina. Looking at her nephew's wife sadly, she carefully placed the wiggling, fussing infant against the woman's side and .pushed the slender arm closer to cradle the child.

She watched as her godson quickly quieted down once in the presense of his mother, his body stilling save for the gentle rising and falling of his chest as he joined his mother in sleep.

Sighing wearily, she fell into her chair, elbows propped on her knees and face pressed in her hands as she groaned "How are we going to tell Kushina her only child's blind because of her husband's desire to protect Konoha?"

Feeling Jiraiya's large hand on her shoulder, she looked up into his broad face as he gave her a soft smile and said "Don't worry Tsunade, it'll work out for the best. I can feel it. "

"I hope you're right, Jiraiya." Tsunade replied softly, to which he chuckled lightly and answered "Of course I am. Remember Tsu-hime, my luck's a lot better than yours."

Tsunade turned a half-hearted glare onto her old teammate before leaning back in her chair, murmuring "I certainly pray it is." before drifting off to sleep, emotional and physcial exhaustion finally overtaking her.

Little did she know just how right her old friend was.


	2. Chakra is my Ally

No, I do not own Naruto.

A/N: Don't worry Liger01, it's not going to be a Naru/Hina or Naru/Saku pairing. In fact, there's a poll on my bio page to help me decide his romantic interest, or if there'll even be one. Now, I'm not making any promises that the poll winner will be the one I use, unless their victory is overwhelmingly decisive. So, dear readers, go to my bio page and vote for Naruto's dreamgirl (for this fic, anyways)!

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Kushina groaned, shifting slightly, wondering why she wasn't in bed, snuggled up against Minato, his hand on her belly. After a few moments, her eyes snapped open as she shot upright, brown eyes filled with terror as she cried "Minato!" Her eyes darted around the hospital room, trying to find her missing husband, until a small hand placed itself on her shoulder. Snapping her head to her side, she saw Tsunade sitting in a chair by her bed, sadness in her eyes.

"Tsunade..." Kushina asked, and the sannin sighed as she said "I'm sorry Kushina..."

Kushina felt tears flow down her cheeks, fighting the sobs as she asked "What about my Naruto-chan? Is he OK?" She felt her heart drop into her stomach as Tsunade's face didn't brighten when asked about her newborn 'grand nephew'.

"No..." Kushina whispered, looking to her lap as a sob escaped her throat, but felt the hand squeeze her shoulder as Tsunade said "Kushina, he's not dead..."

Kushina snapped her head toward the woman as she cried "Then what? What is it?!"

"It's his eyes... I'm sorry Kushina, but Naruto... Naruto's completely blind." Tsunade said, Kushina looking stunned at the woman her husband considered an aunt, woth a hint of hope on her face.

"But... but otherwise he's fine, right?" Kushina asked, and confused by the question, Tsunade nodded and said "Of course, but Kushina, don't you understand?"

"Of course I understand. My son's blind. But we're shinobi, and he has not only me, but Minato in him, so if anyone can learn to overcome this, its him. I'm worried if there's something more serious wrong with him." Kushina said.

Tsunade listened to the redhead, a soft smile on her face as she said "That's true."

"Tsunade, can I see my Naruto-chan?" Kushina asked, and smiling to the redhead, Tsunade nodded and said "Of course. I just need to see if I can't get him away from Jiraiya first. Man's been cooing and coddling the baby when it's awake since he... he retrieved him from Minato. You better be careful, or that fool's going to spoil that child rotten."

"Before you can, right?" Kushina asked with a smirk, to which the blonde sannin returned a smirk of her own, arms crossed under her chest as she said "You're damn right, Kushina. If anyone's going to spoil that little angel, its going to be ME!"

"So, your going to be staying in Konoha?" Kushina questioned, to which Tsunade gaped, sputtered, before finally sighing as she said "I guess. I mean, that little sundrop's going to need his auntie Tsunade around to be a good role model and counteract Jiraiya's negative influence... Besides, if anyone's going to be his doctor, it's me."

"Well, before you and Jiraiya start your 'spoil my baby rotten' contest, may I see him first?" Kushina asked, and Tsunade smiled and said "Of course.", standing from her chair and exiting the hospital room.

Sighing, the redhead buried her face into her hands, shoulders shuddering as she whispered "What am I going to do without you, Minato?"

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Opening her eyes as her hospital door opened again, Kushina gave a smile as she saw Tsunade enter carrying a chubby baby boy with blonde fuzz on his head and making the most pitiful sounds she'd ever heard.

Frowning as she heard him, Kushina asked "What's the matter with him, Tsunade?"

Tsunade gave her a reassuring smile as she said "Don't worry Kushina, your son's just hungry. I'm afraid that he might have that legendary appetite of Minato's." Kushina sighed and smiled, grabbing her chest as she said "I guess that means you girls are going to have to work overtime or be deflated." Taking her son from Tsunade, Kushina dropped one side of her gown, allowing her breast to hang free. Bringing her son up to the nipple, he latched instinctively onto and begun suckling greedily.

Kushina sighed contently as she watched her newborn son suckle on her breast, tiny fists moving as he enjoyed his meal. Smiling sadly, she blinked the tears from her eyes as she said "Don't worry Naruto-chan, mommy's here, and she won't let anything happen to you. I don't care if you're blind, deaf, or whatever, I'll protect you and make sure that you live a long, happy, healthy life."

"And don't you worry, Kushina. Me and Jiraiya are going to help you do just that." Tsunade said, stroking the infant's whisker-scarred cheek as he opened pale, pupiless blue eyes, which looked around unseeingly. The door opened and admitted Tsunade's young apprentice Shizune, a slug doll that greatly resembled Katsuya in her arms.

"He's sooo cute!" Shizune said with a bright smile as she set the doll aside, Kushina nodding as she said "That he is... And, if I may say so, he gets most of his good looks from me."

"Well then, lets hope he gets his personality from Minato. Last think Konoha needs is another you running around, blind or not." Tsunade said, Kushina frowning at the blonde medic-nin as she grumbled "Ha ha. Very funny, Tsunade."

"Can I hold him?" Shizune asked hopefully, and Kushina smiled as she said "Well, let him finish eating first. I don't to ever be the source of those pitiful sounds he makes, and taking him away before he's done eating will certainly cause him to make those pitiful sounds."

"Jusy like Minato and food."

Three sets of eyes turned to the doorway to see Jiraiya's large back, his front facing out into the hallway. Raising an eyebrow, Tsunade asked "Jiraiya, what in the name of Kami are you doing?"

"Well, Kushina's breastfeeding little Naruto-chan, so I'm turning my back so as to give her privacy." Jiraiya stated matter-of-factly. The three women in the room merely started at him in stunned silence for several long moments, before Tsunade jumped into action.

"Shizune! Check outside and see if the sky's falling or there's any pigs flying through the air! Kushina! Take Naruto and get somewhere safe! I'll get you when the danger's over!" Tsunade barked, Shizune running to the window in fear as Kushina stood and began trying to get her pants on one-handed while not removing her nipple from her son's mouth.

"Tsunade, what's the matter?!" Jiraiya asked, and Tsunade replied "You have a free chance to see a naked breast, and you're not taking it?! The Apocolypse is obviously nigh!"

At that, Jiraiya rounded on the trio, a look of seriousness on his face and eyes closed, arms crossed over his chest and the large stuffed toad he held. The trio of women stopped moving and turned to him as he said "Himes, I'm surprised at you. You have so little respect in me that you would honestly believe I'd leer at the wife of a man I loved like a son while she feeds my grandson. Honestly, I do have standards!"

The three women stared at Jiraiya in stunned silence, Tsunade breaking it by softly saying "Jiraiya, I'm sorry, I just thought..."

Jiraiya waved her off as he said "Don't worry about it, I know my reputation." His face broke into a broad grin as he said "Besides, if I wanted to see breasts, I can do a lot better than leering at new mothers in the hospital! Women line the streets, begging me to view their magnificent bodies for my glorious work! I know you've always wanted to show me that beautiful body of yours!"

"Jiraiya! You're lucky we're already in the hospital..." Tsunade snarled, to which the white-haired hermit let out his deep, rumbling laugh as he said "Kidding, Tsunade! Kidding! Don't blow a gasket, hime!"

Tsunade growled, shaking her head as Kushina sighed and turned to her son and muttered "Yeah, you're going to have a very interesting childhood, I can already see that." Naruto merely turned pale, pupiless blue eyes to her, smiling around the nipple he was suckling on and allowing some milk and saliva to trickle out.

"Good to know you agree, Naruto-chan." Kushina replied with a smile, wiping up the liquid from around his mouth as her son returned to his content suckling.

--------------------------------- ONE AND A HALF YEARS LATER ------------------------------------

"Fwog!" a small voice called out as the blonde-haired toddler waddled down the hallway. Wearing a dark blue t-shirt emblazoned with a smiling yellow cartoon slug and cream shorts, the whisker-cheeked toddler's head turned left and right, as if he could see.

"Naruto-chan! You shouldn't run off! You know its not safe!" Shizune cried exasperatedly, the slug doll she had bought the child when he was born tucked under her right arm.

"Wan' fwog!" Naruto said stubbornly, tiny arms trying to cross over his chest as he turned toward the sound of Shizune's voice, a pout on his chubby face.

Shizune looked at the toddler, a tiny twinge of guilt in her chest as she held out the slug doll she was carrying and said "Here's frog. Now come back to the playroom Naruto-chan..."

However, his response caused her to stare at the boy in shocked silence as, without touching the stuffed animal, said "Not wan' swug! Wan' fwog!"

"Wh-what did you say?" Shizune asked after finding her voice, and her tiny 'nephew' repeated "Not wan' swug! Wan' fwog!" Shizune gulped as she watched the tiny form of Naruto turn and begin toddling down the hallway again, once more calling for his stuffed frog.

"Ho-how..." Shizune asked noone, before remembering the tiny child quickly waddling away. Quickly catching up to him, she picked the small boy up in her arms, earning a suprised squawk from the boy as she said "I'll help you find frog Naruto-chan."

As she carried the tiny blonde in her arms, the child calling out for his beloved stuffed frog, Shizune couldn't help but think '_What is going on with you, Naruto-chan?_'

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Kushina yawned, pulling off her hitai-ate, cursing the idiots she worked with at the administration tower, as she walked into the house she and Minato had shared, which now housed her Tsunade, Shizune, Jiraiya, and of course, her little Naruto-chan. Thinking of her blonde cherub, she smiled. Most of the time, it was hard to even tell that he was even blind. Apparently, he wanted to prove his mommy right when she'd told Tsunade that he could overcome the disability.

"Naruto-chan! I'm home!" Kushina called, and recieved a familiar cry of 'momma!' and the sound of bare feet padding toward the main room as an answer. Turning the corner into the living room, she watched her Naruto waddle up to her and latch onto her, babbling about his day in his own special way.

"Hey Naruto-chan! I missed you!" Kushina said and knelt down, gathering the boy in her arms, smiling as she felt him wrap his arms around her neck and bury his face in her shoulder. Kissing him on the forehead, Kushina saw Shizune enter quickly, but grew concerned at the look she was recieving from the dark-haired apprentice of Tsunade.

"Hey Shizune... Is there something wrong?" Kushina asked, and Shizune rubbed the back of the head as she said "Well... its about Naruto..."

"Naruto?" Kushina asked, and the child replied "Momma?"

"Hush, I'm talking to auntie Shizi." Kushina said, and the boy nodded as if in understanding, snuggling his face deep into his mother's neck, already feeling sleepy now that he was once more in his mother's arms.

"What about him?" Kushina questioned, and Shizune answered "It's nothing bad... It's just, well, unusual."

"How so?"

"Well, today Naruto was trying to find his frog, you know, the one Jiraiya got for him? Anyways, I tried to give him his slug one in its place so I could get him back to his playroom... But without even touching it, he was able to tell it wasn't his frog." Shizune answered, and Kushina blinked before turning to the dozing blonde in her arms as she unknowingly thought the same thing Shizune had earlier '_What's going on with you, Naruto-chan?_'

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A couple of days later, Kushina found herself sitting in Tsunade's office/examination room, holding her son in her lap as he played with his stuffed slug, watching as Tsunade checked and double-checked papers in a manilla folder, ocassionally talking to Jiraiya and Hizashi before returning to the papers. By request of both Tsunade and Kushina, the two men aiding the medic-nin in trying to figure out what was going on with her son. Finally, Tsunade nodded and closed the folder, standing from her desk and moving to stand before Kushina.

The redhaired mother felt her heart pound in her chest as Tsunade said "Kushina, we've run every medical exam and test that we know. And as far as we can tell is that Naruto-chan apparently has the makings of a new kekkai gekkai."

"A-a new kekkai gekkai?" Kushina asked, the blonde smiled as she said "Yes, Kushina. He's as healthy as the day he was born, so don't worry. The only real difference is that, as Hizashi explained to me, his body seems to generate an unique chakra pulse at regular intervals that radiates outward in a dome. And once released, it goes out a set distance before disappating, except when it encounters something such as you, trees, or his stuffed toys. Once encountering an object, it bounces back to him and gives him a 'view' of sorts of the world around him, similar to ecolocation."

"OK..." Kushina said, and Tsunade nodded as Hizashi stepped in and continued "What Naruto most likely sees is a colorless, textureless version of our world. Trees look like lightpoles with paper leaves on them, people resemble clay statues, and books and scrolls might as well be blank to him."

"How often does he send out these 'chakra pulses', Hizashi?" Kushina asked, and Hizashi answered "About every three to five seconds, with it taking two to three seconds for it to radiate outward and bounce back. Which means that its like he's blinking very slowly, with two to three seconds between each look at the world."

"But how exactly how big is this 'chakra pulse dome' you were speaking of?" Kushina questioned, and Hizashi replied "Right now its rather small, with only a couple yards in diameter with him in the exact middle of the dome, but as he gets older, it should grow larger until it goes about as far as human sight, though the farther away something is, the less clearly he'll 'see' it, much like human sight. So, with some training, he should be able to live about as normally as people around him. Even become a shinobi should he wish."

"Won't be the first blind shinobi we've had in Konoha." Jiraiya said with a grin, Kushina nodding as she remembered the young chuunin Tonbo. Maybe she could get him to help Naruto later on.

"Hear that baby? You might have a kekkai gekkai!" Kushina said, hugging her son softly, who merely giggled and said "You're silly mommy!"

"No, you're silly. And silly boys need to be kissed!" Kushina said, and began peppering the tiny blonde with kisses, causing Tsunade, Hizashi, and Jiraiya to laugh at their antics.

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A/N - So, how do you like Naruto's 'kekkai gekkai' of sorts? Basically, its ecolocation with chakra instead of sound, and since Naruto has so much chakra naturally, the drain is negligable. If its too much, I can change it.

...

Oh, and don't forget to vote on my bio page poll for Naruto's romantic interest!


	3. Training and First Day of School Trouble

No, I do not own Naruto.

A/N: To Inumiru, you're right, I should give credit to Tobitake Tonbo's creator... So thank you, Kishimoto!... What? Tonbo's a VERY minor Naruto character. He's the guy at the Chuunin Exams with the bandages over the upper portion of his head... Look him up on leafninja . com's biography section. He's there. I'll wait.

...

Found him? Good. But please don't take this as an insult, Inumiru, because, to be perfectly honest, I didn't know he was actually in the show until someone else mentioned him and I had to look him up to be sure he really existed.

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Kushina sat under the shade of a tree with three bento at her side, watching as Naruto, now 5, slowly moved through the kata he was being taught by Tonbo. The blind chuunin stood beside his student, ocassionally stopping him and adjusting his stance with gentle nudges of hands or feet.

Both Kushina and Tonbo quickly discovered that Naruto was a quick learner, for any adjustments Tonbo made to his kata or advice spoken by Kushina needed only to be made once as he quickly incoporated the improvements and suggestions into his movements. Both had worked together and with Maito Gai to create a taijutsu style that fit with the child's disabilities. It was largely modelled after the blind chuunin's own person taijutsu style, modified and refined by Gai and Kushina, and added a special weapon into it.

Turning her eyes to the sky, she smiled and called out "Alright you two, its time for lunch!"

"YATTA!" the orange-clad boy cried as he ran over to his mother and the lunches she'd made, followed at a more leisurely pace by Tonbo. Taking a seat in his mother's lap, Naruto snuggled against her warmth as she patted his head and handed him his bento, doing the same for his sensei when the man made it over to them, sitting himself opposite the mother and son.

"Alright Naruto-chan, after lunch, we'll begin working on your kenjutsu, alright?" Kushina asked, and the boy nodded enthusiastically, more excited at training with his mother than he was with Tonbo.

Kushina ate her own lunch as she watched Naruto carefully reach out and take hold of his chopsticks, then proceeded to eat much slower than a child his age should, his movements measured and careful, ensuring that the food reached his mouth sucessfully.

Turning to Tonbo, she watched him eat slightly faster, but his movements were no less measured and careful than those of her son's. She already knew why they ate like that, having spoken to Tonbo as soon as her son's potential kekkai gekkai was discovered. It was because they lacked eyesight, requiring them to compensate to ensure their food reached their mouth, something that she and people with sight took for granite.

She watched as Naruto rested his chopsticks on his bento as a hand reached out to the side, hand slow and steady until his fingers brushed against his cup of juice. His hand encircled it and held it firm, bringing it up to his lips and tipping it up, allowing him to satisfy his thirst before it was set down with equal care, returning to his lunch.

The three continued eating in silence, which ended as soon as Naruto was done with his.

Hopping to his feet, the blonde quickly dusted off his t-shirt and shorts, turning to his mother with a beaming smile as he asked "Can we start sword training now? Can we? Can we please?!"

Kushina sighed, but smiled and rose to her feet, dusting off her clothes as she gathered the bento into a small pile and grabbed two bokken, one smaller than the other. Handing the smaller of the two to her son, he dashed into the center of the field, standing and facing where she and Tonbo were, holding his sword at the ready before him, calling for her to hurry.

"Energetic, isn't he?" Tonbo asked with a smile, one Kushina mirrored as she said "You don't know the half of it, Tonbo. He's been a little ball of energy since he was born. Used to be managable, with his only movements being flailing his tiny arms and kicking his little legs... Then he learned to crawl and everything went downhill. In fact, while me, Tsunade, and Jiraiya are working, we pay Shizune for a c-rank mission just to watch him."

"That bad, huh?" Tonbo asked with a smirk, and before Kushina could answer, she felt a tiny hand grab hers and begin trying to drag her toward the center of the field, Naruto yelling "Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!"

"Alright alright! I'm coming!" Kushina said, allowing him to pull her to center of the field to begin training. As they reached it, Naruto stopped, released Kushina's hand, and stood before her, holding his bokken at the ready, face turned to her, and began moving through the opening kata she'd taught him.

Watching him move through the katas, correcting them as needed, she sighed softly and thought '_Minato, you'd be so proud of him. Doesn't let anything get him down, even as steep a handicap as being blind._'

"Naruto-chan, is there anything that scares you?" Kushina asked, and the blonde shook his head rapidly as he said "Nuh-uh! I'm fearless!"

* * *

Kushina sighed as she stood before the Konoha shinobi academy, and looking behind her she stared at the head of blonde hair, the face pressed into the back of her thighs, arms gripping her legs as she asked "Naruto-chan, I thought you were fearless. You say it often enough."

"I'm not scared!" the 6 year old blonde said, tilting his head up to reveal his bandaged eyes, a strip of black cloth over the bandages, bearing a smiling orange toad on the front.

"Then why are you hiding behind me?" Kushina asked, and her son said "I'm not! I'm just practicin' bein' a ninja!"

"Oh... So this is stealth practice, huh?" Kushina questioned, getting a nod from her son. Sighing, she managed to get him to release her and turned to face the child. Kneeling in front of him, she placed her hands on his shoulders and said "Naruto-chan, I want you to know that its OK to be scared sometimes."

"But you and Tonbo-sensei don't get scared ever!" Naruto said, sounding disbelieving of a concept that, in his opinion, was the height of ludicrous. Kushina knew that if she could see his pale, pupiless eyes, that they'd be wide, which caused her to smile.

"Of course we do, Naruto-chan. Whenever we go on a dangerous mission, we get scared. We were scared on the day your daddy defeated the big bad Kyuubi." Kushina said, and Naruto asked "Then why do you do them?"

Smiling, Kushina said "We just face our fears. Naruto-chan, being brave isn't never being scared, its doing things despite being afraid. And you do want to be a brave shinobi like daddy, mommy, and Tonbo-sensei, right?"

"Uh-huh!" Naruto said, nodding as he smiled at the thought. Leaning in, Kushina kissed him on the forehead and placed his 'walking cane' in his hands as she said "Well then, go into the academy, learn, and make friends with the other kids."

"But what if they don't like me?" Naruto asked, and Kushina ruffled his hair as she said "Now don't be silly, Naruto-chan! Of course they're gonna like you. Now hurry in there before you're late. And strong shinobi aren't late!"

"Okay!" Naruto said, turning and heading into the building, Kushina sighing as muttered "Tsume was right. This is harder than I thought it'd be."

"I'm always right, Kushina. The sooner that you learn that little lesson, the better your life will be."

Turning, Kushina saw her friend Tsume standing there, watching her red-haired friend send her only son into the academy for his first day at school. Kushina smiled as she asked "Brought Kiba to school huh?"

Tsume nodded with a sigh and said "Yeah. I swear he's so much like Kirou its scary at times."

"Naruto's the same way." Kushina said, Tsume patting her friend's shoulder as she said "It's still hard, knowing that he's gone, isn't it?"

"Uh-huh. If it wasn't for Naruto-chan, I don't know what I'd do." Kushina said, Tsume nodding knowingly as she said "I know that feeling. The hardest part is waking up some mornings, expecting it to be a bad dream, and he's still sprawled out beside me snoring, an arm wrapped protectively around me."

"Yeah..." Kushina murmured, wiping a tear from her eye as Tsume laughed bitterly, tears beginning to flow down her own cheeks as she said "Do you know that the worst part isn't that he's gone, its how he went. He'd survived so many fights, even survived the Kyuubi attack, and he was killed by something as tiny as a blood clot in the brain. A strong, powerful Inuzuka, survivor of the front line of the worst disaster in Konoha history, and a fucking stroke took him away!"

Kushina nodded sadly, having comforted her friend after his death, and said "Come on, lets go get something to calm our nerves."

"Isn't it a bit early to be getting drunk?" Tsume asked with a smirk, and the redhead gave the feral woman a slight glare as she said "I meant a nice cup of tea and you know it, Tsume."

"Yeah yeah... Though a few bottles of sake would work better." Tsume replied, and Kushina sighed as she said "You know, you're starting to sound a lot like Tsunade. Maybe you need to get some breast implants and a pet pig dressed in human clothes. Then you might be a bit more bearable to be around."

"Hey, that hurts." Tsume replied with a melodramatic pout, and Kushina sighed as she pinched Tsume's cheek and said "That trick only works for Naruto, and you're not Naruto. Now lets get that tea before I change my mind about buying."

"Alright, you win, Namikaze-sama." Tsume said, and burst into laughter at the glare she recieved from Kushina, who hissed back "That was low, and you know it."

* * *

Entering the classroom, Naruto turned his head, ears twitching as he listened to the conversations going on as his chakra radiated outward and back, giving him a view of the room. Nodding, he began walking up the stairs of the bleacher-like desks, tapping his cane as instructed. It made him seem like a normal blind person, and gave others the misconception of him being truly disabled or weaker than he was. Deception and misdirection, two well-known staples of the shinobi profession.

Walking up the stairs, he could feel the eyes on him, even if his chakra dome didn't show as heads all across the room turned to him, the formerly louding conversations turning into whispered words about him.

Though his classmates thought they were being quiet, the blindfolded blonde could hear their words as if they were whispering to him personally. It, along with enhanced smell and touch, was apparently another part of his new 'kekkai gekkai', aiding his 'ecolocation chakra dome' in percieving with the world around him. In fact, he was having to train with the Inuzuka clan to control these new senses, making sure that offensive odors or overly loud sounds didn't damage his nose or ears.

"Hey Naruto! Sit over here with me!" came the boisterous cry of Tsume's youngest child, and smiling, the blonde sat next to the feral-looking youth, leaning his cane against his chair between.

"How's Kuromaru-sensei?" Naruto asked Kiba, who pouted and crossed his arms over his chest as he said "Still bein' a big stupid jerk! Won't let me roll around in the smelly stuff with the hounds or eat their tasty food. Makes me eat the peas and carrots and junk momma makes instead!"

"Jiji and Baa-chan make me eat that stuff too, and not yummy ramen. Especially Teuchi-jiji's ramen. And I know mama eats it all the time, cause she's always smelling like Teuchi-jiji's yummy ramen!" Naruto said, and then sniffed as he said "It's not fair."

"I know! The dog's food tastes like chicken and beef and good stuff like that, and it even makes its own gravy!" Kiba complained, resting his forehead on the desk as he grumbled more about it.

"You like to eat dog food?! EEEW!"

Both Kiba and Naruto turned to the source of the rather loud admonishment, seeing it to be a pigtailed blonde, her tongue stuck out, standing with a pinkette with her hair pulled back with a red ribbon. The blonde was dressed in a purple short-sleeved shirt and black shorts, while her friend was in a red cheongsam with black shorts under it.

"Whaddya expect? He's one of those wierd dog ninja! I bet they all eat dog food and lick themselves!" cried another voice, and Kiba felt his hackles rise, a growling rumbling in his chest as he all but snarled "Take that back!"

"I heard from my brother that the Inuzuka all smell really bad and have fleas!" another voice taunted, and Kiba rose to his feet, clenching and unclenching his fists, eyes darting around over the people looking at him, unconsciously readying to pounce on the next person to insult his clan.

"Kiba, calm down!" Naruto said, but his friend seemed to ignore him, glaring around the room, awaiting for his prey to voice their insult against his clan.

"Well it's true! Daddy even says your mommy does 'nasty things' with her dog!"

At that, Kiba roared with rage and charged, launching himself through the air and tackling his shocked victim onto the desk. Straddling the boy's chest, he began raining fists down on the stunned boy, blackening an eye and bloodying his nose. The boy tried ineffectually to fight the Inuzuka off or at least shield himself, but Kiba ignored his attempts at offense and defense, still punching as hard as he could.

He didn't see his classmates immediately give a wide berth to him and his punching bag, didn't hear as they began screaming and yelling for a teacher, or care when they began trying to pull him off. At least, not until a pair of arms slipped under his and placed him in a full nelson, pulling him off and away from the other child kicking and screaming to return to metting out what he believed was justified punishment for his insults.

Kiba, gasping for air and glaring at the bruised and bloodied boy, tried to turn his head to see who was stopping him. His struggling weakened as he saw the familiar dark orange sleeves of Naruto's favorite jacket, and blinking, he asked "Naruto...?"

Before the blonde could answer his friend, the entire class had it's attention taken from the scene before them to the front of the class by the tanned chuunin with a scar running across his nose screaming "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!"

"The smelly boy attacked him for no reason at all!" the blonde girl cried, pointing to Kiba, who turned a glare on her as he yelled "Uh-uh! He said my mommy does 'nasty things' with Kuromaru-sama!"

"Well she does!" another voice cried out, and the formerly calming Inuzuka was thrown into another fit of rage, kicking his legs and struggling to escape Naruto's hold, the blind boy struggling to keep Kiba from attacking another classmate as Iruka watched, knowing that this was only the beginning of a _very_ difficult schoolyear.

He could already feel the migraine growing as the seconds passed.

* * *

Random Fanfic Trivia: When I named Tsume's deceased husband 'Kirou' in _Renegades: The Missing Hokage_, I'd done so like Kishimoto named Kisame, adding 'ki' (ogre/demon) to an animal ('same' or shark for Kisame and 'rou' or wolf for Kirou). Apparently, 'kirou' is already a word in Japanese. It means, and I kid you not, "old person thrown away in the mountains". That is a cruel name. Kind of like poor Karui, which means "light, non-serious, minor".

You learn something new every day, I guess.


End file.
